Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman dies at 64

Jack Sherman, a guitarist who played on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' debut album, has died. He was 64.

The band announced Sherman's death on social media, writing, "We of the RHCP family would like to wish Jack Sherman smooth sailing into the worlds beyond, for he has passed....He was a unique dude and we thank him for all times good, bad and in between. Peace on the boogie platform." A cause of death has not been disclosed.

Sherman was recruited in 1983 to replace founding Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, and played with the band on their self-titled debut album and during the ensuing tour. He also co-wrote many of the songs on the group's second album, Freaky Styley, but was fired in 1985 after substantial friction with vocalist Anthony Kiedis. Sherman did, however, contribute backing vocals to the band's 1989 breakthrough album, Mother's Milk.

Outside of the Chili Peppers, Sherman's music career included credits on Bob Dylan's Knocked Out Loaded and George Clinton's fourth solo album R&B Skeletons in the Closet.

Sherman and fellow guitarist Dave Navarro were not included when the Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. The Hall of Fame stated that only original members, current members, and those who played on multiple records were eligible for inclusion. Sherman, however, perceived the move as a "politically correct way of omitting Dave Navarro and I for whatever reasons they have that are probably the band's and not the Hall's," he told Billboard at the time.

"It's really painful to see all this celebrating going on and be excluded," he added. "I'm not claiming that I've brought anything other to the band... but to have soldiered on under arduous conditions to try to make the thing work, and I think that's what you do in a job, looking back. And that's been dishonored. I'm being dishonored, and it sucks."

As Kiedis admitted in his autobiography, "God bless Jack, he did keep the band afloat for a year, and if he hadn't, the years to follow probably wouldn't have."

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